How to Stay Friends After Travelling;

Travelling is a beautiful thing. It opens you up to new cultures, new loves, new friends, extended families, new experiences and gifts you with some amazing experiences.

It is never hard to meet people and find those that you connect well with. In two-week vacations I have met some wonderful people who I connected better with than friends I had known for years back home – crazy huh?!

The famous saying applies often here, you don’t realise what you’ve got till it’s gone.

These can be some of the hardest goodbyes and I often find myself saying ‘keep in touch’ – add me on (insert social media of choice here) – but finding it all to easy to get lazy and lack the effort needed to sustain a friendship.

Here are my top tips on How to Stay Friends After Travelling;

Social Media my friends, Binge on it.

C’mon now. We all have at least three different SM’s these days (twitter, instagram, Facebook – need i go on?) – sometimes I genuinely wonder how we actually communicated with each other before it…

Everybody has Social Media in some form, add them. Do it now! Don’t wait until the end of the trip where you make the ‘obligatory’ goodbyes – add me on Facebook – gestures half heartedly and out of politeness.

Add as you go. Tag those embarrassing snaps. ‘Check yourself In With [insert name here]. Have some fun with it.

From my experience, getting – the people I liked – on SM early on and sharing hilarious moments as we went actually made it ‘easier’ to keep in touch after our travels together. We already had the ‘SM bond’ so it wasn’t ‘weird’ or ‘random’ to start a conversation once we said goodbye.

Don’t do Social Media well? Write to each other the old-fashioned way!

I met one of my best friends while travelling in Nepal, she is Italian and I am Scottish. Yes, we both have Social Media, why we decided to write one another letters I’m not sure.
But almost 3 years on we still write each other letters.
It is a bond we have with one another and it is beautiful.
After a horrible week or a miserable day, to come home to a beautiful hand written letter – she is amazing at calligraphy, so it’s always beautiful – brightens up my day.

Do what works for both of you, we are both quite creative so this is probably why we decided on letter writing as opposed to Facebook messages.

Remember why you were Friends in the First Place.

Don’t forget what kept you close while travelling together.
While a lot of people – who travel with friends – fall out, snap at each other and sometimes come out the other end worse off, you bonded so well with someone you probably spent the majority of your time/travels with. And that can be hard to do!
Remember those hilarious stories, common interests, common dislikes (we all love a good bitch after all) and continue them on!

Plan Future Adventures TOGETHER.

You like travelling, I like travelling – Lets plan an adventure!!
Me and a friend planned a trip to Italy last year, we travelled from Venice to Rome – It was amazing!
While we were there we met up with my wonderful Italian Friend from Nepal! Almost 2 years after travelling together we finally got to hang out again and she met my best friend from home it was fantastic! – and effortless, she lived there after all!

Whether you plan something together, one visits the other, or you simply talk and help each other plan separate trips, it keeps your bond tight – this is something you are passionate about after all.

It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to do it, friendships last a lifetime, especially after you have travelled together – you have a completely different bond after travelling with friends. It’s pretty unbreakable.

What are you Top Tips for stay friends with people you meet on the road?